Skin Tone Types & Undertones
Skin Tones
There are six skin tones — fair, light, medium, tan, brown, and deep — running from the lightest complexions to the most deeply pigmented. This guide explains what each one means, the four undertones that cut across them, how to identify your own, and which colors suit you.
Realistic reference shades, not clinical measurements. Want to find your exact tone and undertone — and the colors and color season they map to? Use the interactive skin color chart →
What Are Skin Tones?
Your skin tone is how light or deep your complexion is — essentially how much melanin your skin carries, on a spectrum from fair to deep. It is one of two things that describe your coloring; the other is your undertone, the subtle hue beneath the surface (cool, warm, neutral, or olive). Tone and undertone are independent: two people with the same medium skin tone can have completely different undertones — and need different makeup and clothing colors as a result.
Unlike undertone, which is fixed for life, your skin tone can move. A summer tan deepens it; winter and time can lighten it. That is why most people sit between two adjacent tones depending on the season — and why undertone, not tone, is the more reliable thing to build a color palette around.
People pay attention to their skin tone for three reasons. Foundation and concealer matching — every makeup range is organized by tone (the shade number) and undertone (the warm/cool/neutral family). Choosing flattering clothes — your tone and undertone point to a color season and a palette that makes you look rested rather than washed out. And sun protection — your tone maps to a Fitzpatrick type, which predicts how easily you burn.
It is also worth saying that no tone is more “normal” than another, and which ones are common depends entirely on where you are in the world. Globally the middle of the range — medium and tan — holds the largest share of people, which is why “medium” is the widest band on most charts. The very fairest and the very deepest tones are the least common worldwide, but a complexion that is rare in one region is everyday in another. A skin tone scale describes variation; it does not rank it.
One last note before the list: “olive” is not a depth. A lot of guides drop “olive” into the same list as fair, light, medium, and deep — but olive is an undertone, a green-grey cast that can sit on fair, medium, or deep skin alike. Below we keep the two separate: the six skin tones first, then the four undertones.
The 6 Skin Tone Types
From lightest to deepest. Each of these maps roughly to a Fitzpatrick type (I–VI), and each spans all four undertones — the colored band on the left of every row shows that tone across cool, neutral, warm, and olive.
Fair
Fitzpatrick Type IThe lightest end of the spectrum, with very little melanin. Sunlight reaches it fast — fair skin burns before it tans, if it tans at all.
In the sun: Always burns, never tans — very sensitive to UV.
Colors that suit it: soft, low-contrast colors — dusty pastels, light navy, taupe, cool rose; heavy dark blocks can overpower it.
Light
Fitzpatrick Type IIA step deeper than fair, still low in melanin. It picks up a faint tan in summer and burns easily before that. Many fair-ish people are actually light.
In the sun: Burns easily, tans minimally.
Colors that suit it: light-to-mid tones with a little contrast — warm ivory and peach for warm undertones, cool grey and soft blue for cool ones.
Medium
Fitzpatrick Type IIIThe widest band — light tan through golden through caramel. Medium skin tans gradually and burns only moderately. Most of the world sits here.
In the sun: Burns moderately, tans gradually to light brown.
Colors that suit it: rich mid-tones — teal, olive, terracotta, dusty rose; mid-contrast outfits look intentional rather than washed out.
Tan
Fitzpatrick Type IVNaturally warm and golden, tan skin tans easily and rarely burns. It carries more pigment than "medium" and reads sun-kissed year-round.
In the sun: Burns rarely, tans easily to a moderate brown.
Colors that suit it: earthy, golden colors — camel, rust, mustard, warm green — with crisp white or navy for contrast.
Brown
Fitzpatrick Type VDeeply pigmented and warm-to-neutral, brown skin almost never burns and tans quickly. The undertone range is wide here — golden, red-cocoa, or olive.
In the sun: Very rarely burns, tans deeply and easily.
Colors that suit it: saturated, clear colors — true red, emerald, cobalt, magenta — alongside warm browns and gold.
Deep
Fitzpatrick Type VIThe richest, most melanin-dense tones. Deep skin rarely burns at all and spans the widest undertone range of any depth — never assume "deep" means "neutral".
In the sun: Almost never burns, deeply pigmented.
Colors that suit it: bold, vivid colors — bright white, electric blue, fuchsia, true red — and deep jewel tones; muted pastels can disappear.
Skin Tone vs. Undertone
The single most useful distinction in this whole topic — and the one most people get tangled up. Here it is side by side.
| Skin Tone (depth) | Undertone (hue) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | How light or deep your skin is — the amount of melanin it carries. | The hue beneath the surface — cool, warm, neutral, or olive. |
| Does it change? | Yes. A tan deepens it; winter and time can lighten it. Most people drift between two adjacent tones. | No. It is fixed for life. A tan changes your tone, never your undertone. |
| Categories | Fair · Light · Medium · Tan · Brown · Deep (≈ Fitzpatrick I–VI) | Cool · Warm · Neutral · Olive |
| Where you see it | The overall lightness of your bare face, neck, and chest in daylight. | The cast in your wrist veins, the skin behind your ear, and how white vs. cream looks on you. |
| Why it matters | Picks your foundation shade number and your overall contrast level. | Picks your foundation family (warm/cool/neutral) and which colors flatter you most. |
The short version: tone is your row on a skin chart, undertone is your column. You need both — depth alone will land you the wrong foundation and the wrong wardrobe colors about as often as it lands the right ones.
The 4 Skin Undertones
Undertone cuts across all six skin tones. It is the part that never changes — and the part that decides which colors and metals flatter you.
Pink, red, or bluish hue beneath the surface — your skin reads "rosy."
Vein test: Wrist veins look blue or purple. Metals: Silver and white gold flatter you more than yellow gold.
Colors that flatter
A balanced mix of warm and cool — neither pink nor yellow dominates.
Vein test: Wrist veins look blue-green, or you genuinely cannot tell. Metals: Both silver and gold work — choose by the colors you wear that day.
Colors that flatter
Yellow, golden, or peachy hue beneath the surface — your skin reads "golden."
Vein test: Wrist veins look green. Metals: Yellow gold, brass, and bronze flatter you more than silver.
Colors that flatter
A subtle green or grey-green cast over a warm or neutral base — a tone of its own.
Vein test: Wrist veins look greenish; gold often suits you, but cool greens flatter too. Metals: Both metals can work — muted, antiqued finishes look especially good.
Colors that flatter
How to Find Your Skin Tone & Undertone
Two steps: place your depth (which of the six skin tones you are), then your undertone (cool, warm, neutral, or olive). Run two or three of these checks — if they agree, you have your answer.
Start with depth: jawline in daylight
Bare skin, no makeup, by a window. Compare your jawline against the six tones — fair, light, medium, tan, brown, deep. Use the jaw, not the back of your hand: hands run a shade or two warmer and darker.
Check the veins on your inner wrist
Green-looking veins lean warm. Blue or purple lean cool. A blue-green mix — or genuine uncertainty — points to neutral. A grey-green cast to the skin itself suggests an olive undertone.
Gold vs. silver against your skin
Hold gold jewelry to your jaw, then silver. If gold lights you up and silver looks harsh, you lean warm. If silver looks crisp and gold sallow, you lean cool. Both looking fine means neutral.
White paper vs. warm cream
Hold a sheet of pure white near your face, then a warm cream one. Pure white that makes you glow signals cool; flattering cream signals warm. Olive skin usually does best with an off-white in between.
How the sun treats you
Tans easily, rarely burns → usually warm and a deeper tone. Burns first, tans slowly → usually cool and a lighter tone. A supporting clue, not a verdict — pair it with the tests above.
Hair, eyes, and the colors you get complimented in
Naturally golden or red hair and warm eyes skew warm; ashy hair and cool eyes skew cool. And pay attention to which colors people say you look great in — your wardrobe has been collecting evidence for years.
Rather not eyeball it? Our free color analysis quiz runs these checks for you and returns your undertone in about three minutes — or jump to the interactive chart to see your tone and undertone together. For the depth half of the answer alone, the full face analysis measures it off a photo in one pass.
Which Colors Suit Each Skin Tone
A starting palette for each of the six tones — these flatter the typical contrast of that depth. Your undertone fine-tunes them (warm or cool versions of each), which is where seasonal color analysis takes over.
These are deliberately broad. The exact palette for your tone depends on your undertone and your contrast level — see where you land on the interactive skin color chart, browse the season color guides, or run the free color analysis for your exact 12-season result.
Foundation & makeup by skin tone
Foundation ranges are organized exactly like the six tones: a shade number for depth, a family — warm, cool, or neutral — for undertone. Once you know your tone and undertone you know which language to scan for (“honey” vs. “rose-beige” at medium, “caramel” vs. “rose-tan” at tan, and so on). Always swatch on your jawline in daylight, and give it 15–30 minutes to settle before you judge — most shades oxidize a little. The full depth-by-undertone shade table is on the skin color chart. Spanish speakers: the same depth scale, with the names each tone goes by across Spain and Latin America, is in our guía de tonos de piel.
Skin Tones FAQ
How many skin tones are there?
Most systems use six skin tones — fair, light, medium, tan, brown, and deep — which line up with the six Fitzpatrick types (I–VI). Some beauty brands split those into more steps, and modern measured scales (like Pantone’s) run to over a hundred shades, but six is the standard everyday breakdown. The four undertones (cool, warm, neutral, olive) are separate and cut across all six.
What skin tone am I?
Look at your bare jawline in natural daylight with no makeup, and compare against the six tones above. Then check your undertone with a quick test or two — wrist veins, gold vs. silver, white vs. cream. Your tone is the depth row you match; your undertone is the column. For an automated read, the AI color analysis works from a selfie in about a minute.
Is olive a skin tone or an undertone?
Olive is an undertone, not one of the six skin tones. It is a green or grey-green cast that can appear over a fair, medium, or deep complexion — so you can be fair-olive or deep-olive. Listing “olive” alongside fair/light/medium/deep is a common mix-up; keep depth and undertone on separate axes.
Does your skin tone change over time?
Your tone (depth) can. A summer tan deepens it; winter, illness, and age can lighten it — so most people sit between two adjacent tones depending on the season. Your undertone, though, is genetic and fixed. That is why undertone, not tone, is the more reliable thing to build a color palette around.
What is the rarest skin tone?
Very fair skin (Fitzpatrick Type I) and the deepest, most melanin-dense skin (Type VI) are the least common globally — most of the world’s population falls into the broad medium-to-tan middle. “Rare” also depends on region: a tone that is common in one part of the world is uncommon in another.
What is the difference between skin tone and skin color?
In everyday use they overlap, but “skin tone” usually means the depth-and-undertone description used for makeup and color analysis (fair-warm, medium-cool, and so on), while “skin color” is the broader, more literal term. On this page, skin tone = how light or deep you are; undertone = the hue beneath.
Which skin tone is the most common?
Medium and tan tones are the most common worldwide — the middle of the spectrum holds the largest share of the population. That is also why “medium” is the widest band on most charts, covering light tan through golden through caramel.
How do skin tones relate to color seasons?
Your skin tone (depth) plus your undertone (hue) and contrast level point to one of the 12 color seasons — for example, a deep, cool complexion often lands in True or Dark Winter, while a medium, warm one often lands in True Spring or True Autumn. The skin color chart maps each tone-and-undertone cell to its likely seasons, and the free color analysis confirms the exact one.
Know your skin tone? Find your color season.
Your skin tone and undertone are the first half of the picture. Upload a selfie and our free AI reads your depth, undertone, and contrast — and gives you your exact 12-season palette in about a minute.
Try the Free AI Color Analysis